The term “component” is to be understood in the broad sense thereof and can mean any element, part, device, assembly, sub-assembly, etc. able to be assembled to another identical component or not through said system of the present method, system, and device, up to a given time when it is wanted to detach them.
The detachable linking system can thus find applications in a large number of technical fields.
For example, in a preferred, although not exclusive, application, the system can be integrated into an ammunition including a vector, such as a missile. Indeed, it is known that some parts of the ammunition are detached one from the other upon the ignition and during the trajectory. This is more particularly the case between the base or the bottom of the ammunition and the system for accelerating or propelling the missile linked between them by specific assemblies carrying, in addition to particular equipment, the detachable linking systems being angularly distributed around an internal annular space provided between the base and the acceleration system.
The usually used detachable linking systems generally comprise a linking mechanism between the two detachable components of the assembly, one being stationary, for example a plate, linked to the base, the other one movable, for example a floating support, linked to the acceleration system, and a device for controlling the linking mechanism so as to cause its motion and the detachment of the components.
Such systems are currently of two types.
In the first type, the linking mechanism is a ball-ended spindle, held on the movable support through screwing and having the balls radially projecting at the end of the spindle through the action of a movable central axis of the spindle, being inserted in an abutment inserted on the stationary plate. Upon the operation of the control device, being linked to the movable axis of the spindle via a ring, said axis slides with respect to the spindle and makes grooves arranged on it match with the projecting balls that retract then into the grooves and disconnect the spindle from the abutment integral with the stationary plate. The two components of the base and of the acceleration system are then released and detached one from the other.
Such a system assembly prohibits any angular movement. Indeed, the drawback of an angular shift is to lose contact with all the balls, which may lead to a concentration of efforts on a restricted and too low number of balls, with, in addition, a risk of matting. Furthermore, using several balls has the drawback of only offering one single generator per ball for any contact. Furthermore, crimping the axis with the ring has is of a low dimension, thus restricting the tensile effort for decoupling.
In the second type, the linking mechanism of the system is a breaking one and comprises an element to be broken under the action of the control device driving the mechanism.
In a first case, the element to be broken such as an axis is arranged perpendicular to the tensile effort generated by the device and is supported at the ends thereof by a yoke fastened to the plate and in the centre thereof by a brace being fastened to the floating support and connected to the control device. Breaking occurs at two places of the axis, through shearing.
In a second case, the axis to be broken is arranged parallel and coaxial to the tensile effort being connected at its ends to the plate and to the support.
Breaking is due to the axis being elongated through contraction of the section. The breaking moment is hardly under control.
The breaking effort, through shearing or elongation, is the major drawback of these two assemblies. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the breaking moment is detrimental to a detachment simultaneity, with a risk to cause jamming in the case of an assembly with several detachable linking systems.
Moreover, it is already known from document U.S. Pat. No. 3,014,744 a detachable linking system for two components, comprising a linking mechanism for said components and a control device for said linking mechanism so as to cause said components to be detached.                said linking mechanism being of the elastic deformation type and comprising, according to a longitudinal axis, at least:        one rod having a widened end being longitudinally slit and elastically deformable, and fastened, at its other end, to one of said components:        axially movable needle having an end being introduced in said widened end of the rod for holding it in an open position and the other end being connected to said control device; and        axial hole body, fastened to the other component and surrounding said cooperating ends of said rod and of said needle, being axially linked to the latter and comprising, within said hole, an annular axial abutment against which said widened end of said rod is applied; and        said control device being of the axial shift type, according to said longitudinal axis, and acting on said needle of the linking mechanism for moving it away from said widened end of the rod and, through the action of said abutment of the body linked to said shifted needle, for having said elastically deformable widened end switching from its open position to a closed position and enabling the relative crossing of said rod through said abutment of the body.        